


Sturm und Drang

by Kirathaune



Category: Saiyuki
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-21
Updated: 2016-09-21
Packaged: 2018-08-16 11:40:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8101018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kirathaune/pseuds/Kirathaune
Summary: During thunderstorms, Goku experiences flashbacks from his fight with Youkai!Hakkai.





	

Outside yet another tiny inn, Goku helped Gojyo unload their bags out of Jeep’s storage compartments while the evening’s fading light cast long shadows on the ground. Hearing a rumbling in the distance, Goku looked up uneasily at the darkening sky.

“Ugh,” he said, “there’s a storm comin’ soon.”

“Yeah?” Gojyo slung the strap of his duffel bag on his shoulder and bent to pick up Hakkai’s pack. “Since when did storms bother you?”

“They don’t really bother me,” Goku said, and then he shrugged. “I just… feel weird sometimes during a bad storm.”

Gojyo studied him, frowning. “Don’t tell me you’re going to get all emo like the other two when it rains. Dude, I count on you to be normal. Mostly normal, anyway.”

Goku laughed. “Nah, it’s not like that,” he said. He shifted his pack and scuffed his shoe against the gravel in the road. “Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me, that’s all.” He picked up Sanzo’s duffel. “And Sanzo’s not emo! He just gets quiet sometimes.”

"You go on believing that,” Gojyo said. “Me, I’m going to spend my night in the tavern while those two sulk in our rooms.” He held out a hand and grimaced when several fat raindrops splashed in his open palm. “Time to get inside, kid!”  

“M’not a kid,” Goku muttered as he followed Gojyo inside.

How could he explain it? How could he describe feeling the earth’s energy surging through him, crackling around him, and filling him with raw, chaotic power? Or the flashes of murderous glee?

Not to mention seeing Hakkai go all vine-y.

It had been a long time since he and Hakkai had been trapped in the gourd together, and Goku still vividly remembered how Hakkai had looked (and acted) when he had taken his limiters off.

The thunder-visions were different, though; he and Hakkai weren’t in the desert-like wasteland of the inside of the gourd—they took place in an ordinary village, on the cobblestone streets. And Hakkai wasn’t fighting black, faceless monsters.

Hakkai was fighting _him_.

Goku trudged up the stairs to his and Sanzo’s room, where the monk had already taken up residence on the wide, wooden sill of the room’s only window. “Want anything for dinner, Sanzo?” he asked as he dropped their bags next to their beds.

Sanzo took a deep drag off his cigarette. “Just tea and rice,” he said, amidst a swirling cloud of smoke.

“Okay,” Goku said, and he went downstairs in search of the kitchen.

“The cook went home for the night,” the innkeeper told him, “but you’re welcome to go on in and fix yourself something from the leftovers.”

“Thanks,” Goku said. There was some leftover rice and other food in the refrigerator, so he spent the next few minutes heating things up while he put water on to boil for Sanzo’s tea.

A loud thunderclap shook the room just as he heard someone say, “Oh, good, you already have the water going.”

Goku yelped and nearly jumped out of his skin, and when he turned he saw Hakkai standing in the doorway—

Suddenly, the two of them were back on those cobblestone streets. Goku leapt through the air to claw at Hakkai, while Hakkai unleashed yards of undulating vines that wound themselves around Goku’s legs. With a snarl, Goku tore himself free and launched himself once again at Hakkai.

“Goku!” 

Goku roared in frustration when Hakkai’s vines coiled once more around his feet, yanking him off-balance, and he landed in a heap on the hard stones of the street. Thunder crashed above them as Hakkai’s claws slashed at him, and when he looked up at Hakkai’s face he saw a crazed, murderous gleam in Hakkai’s slitted eye. Hakkai raised his hand once more, and—

“Goku!”

Goku blinked. They were back in the kitchen, and Hakkai was gently shaking his arm. The teakettle shrieked behind them.

“Goku, are you all right?” Hakkai’s non-slitted gaze held concern.

“I, uh, yeah,” Goku replied. He peered more closely at Hakkai. Normal eye, normal ears. No vines. “The tea!” he said, and he reached over and shut off the knob.

“What happened just now?”

Goku bit his lip. Maybe Hakkai _could_ help. “Well,” he said, “I see weird things when there’s a thunderstorm. Kinda like a dream, but I’m awake.” While he prepared a tray to take up to his room, he told Hakkai about the strange visions.

“How long has this been going on?” Hakkai asked.

Goku thought about it. “Maybe since after I was attacked? It only happens when there’s thunder; I’m okay when it’s just rain.”

Hakkai’s lips pursed in thought. “I wonder…”

“What?”

Hakkai busied himself with his tea. “Well, we actually _did_ fight, you and I. And there was quite a bit of thunder, if I recall.”

Goku hung his head. “That time that I hurt you real bad.”

Hakkai glanced at him with a smile. “I seem to remember giving you a good run for your money,” he said. “It was a challenge on both our parts.”

“I kinda wish I could remember it,” Goku said.

“Well, Goku, it seems that you _are_ remembering it. What you described to me really happened.”

“Wow!” Goku exclaimed. “Really? You were totally badass, Hakkai.”

“I don’t know if ‘thank you’ is appropriate, but thank you,” Hakkai replied. He put his teacup and a few biscuits on a tray. “And thank you for telling me about it. At some point we should find a good time to tell Sanzo about this as well—I think it’s important that you are remembering something that happened when your limiter was off.”

“Okay,” Goku said.

“Good night, Goku,” Hakkai said.

“Good night, Hakkai. Thanks.” Goku watched him leave the kitchen, and then he returned his attention to Sanzo’s tea. He finished loading the tray, and just as he was about to pick it up he noticed a small leaf on the counter.

He peered more closely at it. It looked like a leaf from one of Hakkai’s vines.

Thunder rumbled around him once more, and the leaf fluttered towards him.

Goku grabbed the tray and hurried out of the kitchen.


End file.
